Lot 105: Johann Heinrich Keller , Zurich 1692 - 1765 The Hague A bacchanal in a forest landscape with dancing nymphs and satyrs playing the horns oil on canvas

signed and dated lower right: JHK (in ligature) eller.pinxit.1733. oil on canvas

measurements note 65.4 by 81 cm.

THE PROPERTY OF DUTCH PRIVATE COLLECTOR
Swiss by birth, Keller had settled in the Hague by 1726, where he received numerous commissions to decorate both private and public houses with ceiling and chimney pieces, door panels and colourful wall-hangings. His earliest dated works, a series of six mythological scenes are still in situ at the Prinsegracht 6, The Hague. In 1752 he was commissioned by Anna van Hannover, the widow of Stadholder Willem IV, to decorate the first floor of the Stadholder's residence, with no less than twenty-five paintings.υ1

Keller primarily specialised in mythological scenes, of which this charming Bacchanal is an excellent example. The subject is a festive in honour of the god of wine, Bacchus. In this wonderfully vivid composition, the god himself, depicted as a naked youth, is wearing a crown of wine leaves and grapes and holding a Thrysus, the ancient fertility symbol. The Menaed, his female devotee, is dancing and beating the tambourine amidst twirling bacchantes and horn players.

1. For this commission and the whereabouts of the eight remaining paintings, see further Ch. Dumas, 'Johann Heinrich Keller (1692-1765)', Delineavit et Sculpsit, no. 29, December 2005, pp. 54-5.